


i don't want your pity, i just need somebody near me (guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel alright)

by PhoenixAccio



Category: Hunt Down The Freeman (Video Game)
Genre: (but like just right now), (yes as well), Cuddling & Snuggling, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Purring, Touch-Starved, adam and mitch are both stubborn touch-starved idiots and nick is the group cuddle distributor, adsm is simultaneously touch-starved and touch-averse, leech adam, nick is the only sensible character, nonverbal adam, shapeshifter adam, this is canon and i will fight berkan on this fact, yes i am projecting what of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27658234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixAccio/pseuds/PhoenixAccio
Summary: Nick gets a visitor very late at night. Fortunately,  it's a problem he knows exactly how to deal with.
Relationships: Nick (Hunt Down The Freeman)/Adam (Hunt Down The Freeman), Past Nick (Hunt Down The Freeman)/Mitchell Shephard
Kudos: 6





	i don't want your pity, i just need somebody near me (guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel alright)

It was late at night, Nick wasn't sure how late exactly, when he heard the knock on his cabin door. He hadn't been asleep, but it had been a near thing. He couldn't quite bring himself to be annoyed, though. If whoever was knocking on the door needed help, they needed help, and Nick would do what he could. Nick stretched himself out, back cracking, and rolled out of bed to answer his door. 

When he opened it, Nick was struck with a vivid memory of his time with Mitchell before everything had happened. Adam was standing in the doorway, looking disheveled and very small. His face was turned away as if preparing for anger and being turned away. Nick's heart fluttered sympathetically. 

"Adam," he said softly. "Do you need anything?" 

When Adam looked up at Nick, the bags under his eyes were heavy and dark. He wasn't crying (Nick wasn't sure he'd ever seen Adam do that) but he looked pained, as if it were taking everything in his power to let himself come here to begin with. 

"Come in and sit with me, Adam, we can talk there," Nick invited. _It's safe, I won't turn you away._

Reluctantly, Adam did, stepping inside but deigning only to hover nearby even as Nick sat. 

"What's going on?" Nick asked. His opener whenever Mitch had showed up at his bunk while everyone was asleep, _before._

In reply, Adam let out a sort of high keen, intentionally softened as though to keep others from hearing. 

Nick nodded, attempting to be reassuring. 

"Hey, it's alright, you want me to guess?" 

When Adam didn't say no, Nick continued. 

"You need to feed?" Nick asked. Start with something easy. Adam shook his head. Alright. 

"Are you hurt?" Nick tried, but Adam shook his head again. Nick thought back to Mitch finding him in his bunk, what Mitch usually wanted. 

"You just need to be touched?" Nick guessed. When Adam didn't shake his head, just looked off to the side uncomfortably, Nick knew he'd guessed correctly. 

"It's okay, Adam, we can go slow if you want. C'mere," Nick said. He patted the edge of the bed gently, then waited for Adam to decide. After a few seconds, Adam came and sat down. Nick smiled. 

"Hands first, I think," Nick suggested, holding out a hand. Like with Mitchell on those days where he wasn't quite upset enough to jump right in, Nick gave Adam time to get accustomed to the sensation, like walking into a cold lake. 

After a moment, Adam reached out and touched his fingers to Nick's palm, tentative, as if afraid Nick's skin would burn. Nick waited, silent, and watched as Adam slowly lowered his hand onto Nick's properly. Nick smiled softly, careful not to scare Adam off. 

The other hand went next, careful and slow like Adam was a wild animal who could bolt at any second if Nick made a wrong move. Eventually, though, the two men were sitting together on Nick's bed with hands carefully intertwined. 

"Okay?" Nick asked, and Adam nodded anxiously. Broadcasting slow, careful movements, Nick moved one hand onto Adam's wrist, then, and gradually up the arm. Adam tensed, then sighed, eyebrows drawing together. Sensing the discomfort, Nick paused. 

"We can stop whenever you want, just let me know," Nick reassured, but Adam shook his head firmly. Alright then. Nick brushed his hand up Adam's arm and back down, keeping enough pressure to have weight but not painfully so. 

After a few repetitions of this, alternating sides, Adam's eyes closed as he allowed himself to tip over against Nick's chest. Nick, pleased with the reaction, moved to rub up and down Adam's back, occasionally making gentle circles around vertebra or shoulderblade as he coaxed Adam to relax. When Nick tried his luck in pulling Adam properly onto the bed, Adam went willingly, crawling up to curl against Nick in a ball. Nick hummed, petting Adam's hair. He rubbed his fingers together, noting the additional mucus coating them. Stress, probably. Maybe Nick would draw Adam a bath sometime later. He knew Adam would just avoid it otherwise, and god knew his body needed the hydration. Catlike, Adam bumped his head up into Nick's palm, requesting the petting continue, and Nick let out an obliging sigh as he returned to petting Adam's hair. 

They continued this way for some time, although Nick did not know exactly how long. Nick ran rubbing Adam's back, nimble fingers tracing patterns along Adam's scalp through dark, strangely textured hair. Adam, shapeshifter that he was, had seemingly given himself the ability to purr, specifically to express how pleased he was with this predicament, and Nick felt a rush of satisfaction at the feedback, low rumble echoing through his own chest. 

"I love you," he whispered softly into the dark when he was certain Adam was asleep, and although the man curled contentedly against Nick's chest surely could not hear him consciously, the low rumbling purr picked up to come even stronger. They stayed like that the rest of the night, and as morning came and Nick awoke with Adam still tucked against his chest, Adam looked up at him with pupils still overdilated, framed by slightly less tired-looking eyes, with a hint of a purr in his chest, said: 

"Thank you." 

"Anytime," Nick replied fondly, and meant it.


End file.
